011 The Meaning of Transmigration: Changing the Plot!

“Attack! Evil Knight Dragon! Crush that weakling Clayman with only 800 attack points!”

Ryuzaki completely dismissed the humiliation he’d suffered moments before at the hands of Clayman’s formidable 2800 defense. In his mind—and in the minds of most duelists of this era—high attack points were the hallmark of a rare monster card, synonymous with strength. Monsters with high defense, on the other hand, were nothing more than walls, mere tools for stalling.

To illustrate: both the legendary “Blue-Eyes White Dragon,” famous for crushing any foe, and the “Millennium Shield,” said to withstand any attack, share that iconic stat of 3000. Place those two cards before any duelist of this generation, and there’s no doubt—they’d choose Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Why? Because, rather than cowering behind a wall as a turtle with the Millennium Shield, the ability to take the offensive—especially when monsters with more than 3000 attack are virtually nonexistent—makes the Blue-Eyes White Dragon the card everyone reveres.

Why hide when you can strike?

Of course, the allure of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon isn’t just its overwhelming power to destroy all before it, but also its unrivaled, majestic “dragon’s form”—the most captivating presence in the world.

To put it simply: “We’re enamored by her body.”

Now, back to the duel.

As the shadowy attack from Evil Knight Dragon bore down, Yuuya remained unflustered. Calmly, he flipped over the card he’d set the previous turn.

“At the moment you command ‘Evil Knight Dragon’ to attack my ‘Elemental HERO Clayman,’ I activate the trap card ‘Clay Charge!’”

With the activation of Clayman’s exclusive trap, the monster who’d been bracing for destruction underwent a transformation. Gone was the look of resigned doom—in its place, a fierce resolve!

Ryuzaki: ?

What’s going on with this weakling monster?

Watching Clayman charge straight at his own monster, Ryuzaki caught a glimpse of its fearless spirit, and his confusion only deepened.

What’s happening here, little guy? Just one trap card and you suddenly have a death wish, counterattacking my monster?

At that moment, Yuuya’s voice answered the question swirling in his mind:

“‘Clay Charge’—as the name suggests—is a dedicated trap card for ‘Elemental HERO Clayman!’”

Empowered by his unique trap, Clayman was no longer resigned to fate, but surged forward with determination against the immobilized Evil Knight Dragon, who was left vulnerable after initiating its attack.

“When ‘Elemental HERO Clayman’ on my field is targeted for an attack, I flip this card. Clayman, powered by the trap, unleashes a force so strong, it drags the attacker to the grave with him!”

Ryuzaki: !!

Damn! There’s actually a trap card that drags the opponent down to hell?!

Stunned, Ryuzaki could only watch as Clayman, with his immense, rock-solid frame, endured the full brunt of Evil Knight Dragon’s attack and survived.

Reaching the dragon, and met with a face that screamed, “No, please!” Clayman flashed a sly grin, then threw his arms around the dragon’s long neck, squeezing tight no matter how the dragon thrashed.

“Boom!”

With a thunderous explosion, Clayman and Evil Knight Dragon both vanished—like a pair of butterflies, drifting into the graveyard.

(Dinosaur Ryuzaki: 1540 LP → 365 LP)

(A note on Duelist Kingdom’s rules: When a monster in attack position is destroyed by a card effect, its controller takes damage equal to half the destroyed monster’s original attack points. So, since Evil Knight Dragon was destroyed by Clay Charge alongside Clayman, Ryuzaki takes 2350 ÷ 2 = 1175 damage. For details, see the original anime’s “Weevil vs. Yugi” or “Ryuzaki vs. Jonouchi” duels: Weevil’s insect army was wiped out by the “Noble Arms of Hano,” dropping his life from 2000 to 555; Ryuzaki’s ace Black Dragon was turned to fossil by Time Wizard, reducing his 840 life points to zero in a single blow.)

Staring blankly as his second ace monster fell to the grave, Ryuzaki barely had time to react before Yuuya’s devilish voice echoed again:

“By the way, ‘Clay Charge’ doesn’t just drag the opponent down together. After both monsters are sent to the graveyard, it deals an extra 400 life point damage to the opponent!”

Ryuzaki: !!!

He watched, horror-stricken, as a lump of clay shot from the trap card like an arrow, headed straight for him. Ryuzaki’s face contorted into a silent plea: “Please, stay away—!”

(Dinosaur Ryuzaki: 365 LP → 0)

Winner: Yuuya!

…

“Your strength is impressive!”

Handing over his wager of three star chips, Ryuzaki showed not a trace of resentment, conceding graciously.

“To have beaten me means what you said before—the seventh star chip came from Katsuya, the tournament’s third-place duelist—must be true.”

“But I’m curious: with power like yours, why didn’t you compete in the previous Duel Monsters tournament?”

Defeating both third-place Katsuya and himself, the runner-up, left no doubt about Yuuya’s strength. So why hadn’t such a formidable duelist entered the tournament?

“Well... For reasons I can’t discuss, I didn’t enter the last Duel Monsters tournament. As for this Duelist Kingdom, I’m only here due to some special circumstances.”

Yuuya scratched his cheek, somewhat embarrassed by the explanation. Ryuzaki just replied with a knowing “Oh,” and didn’t pry further—everyone has their secrets.

“Oh, Ryuzaki—”

“Yeah?”

Something occurred to Yuuya and he called out:

“Be careful of Weevil!”

“Weevil? You mean the ‘Insect Weevil,’ ranked above me?”

As the tournament’s runner-up, Ryuzaki still remembered “Insect Weevil,” who had narrowly beaten him in the finals.

“Why?”

Ryuzaki’s relationship with Weevil was strictly as rivals. If only there were more support cards for Dinosaur monsters, it was anyone’s guess who would have won!

“You know Yugi Mutou, right?”

“Of course, I heard he defeated Seto Kaiba, supposedly by using the legendary unbeatable monster—‘Dark Sage Exodia’—to overcome Kaiba’s trio of Blue-Eyes White Dragons.”

That tale had already spread among all duelists.

“If you assemble all five pieces of Exodia during a duel, you win automatically! And that invincible card—on the cruise ship to this island, Weevil, under the pretense of studying Yugi’s deck, threw Yugi’s Exodia cards overboard!”

Ryuzaki: ?!!

What the hell! That actually happened?! (ΩДΩ)

“Of the five cards, two were retrieved by Yugi’s friends who jumped in after them, and the other three were picked up by me—since I just happened to be surfing behind the ship, tied to the railings that night.”

Yuuya repeated the story he’d told to Yugi and his friends, and—just as they had—Ryuzaki completely ignored the strange detail about Yuuya surfing at night behind a cruise ship.

Ryuzaki was now pondering: if what Yuuya said was true, and Weevil really did toss Yugi’s Exodia into the sea, then does that mean if Weevil can’t beat a card, he’ll find a way to steal or destroy it?

If that’s the case, Ryuzaki’s ace must never fall into Weevil’s hands!

“Thanks for the warning, Yuuya!”

After their duel, Ryuzaki had come to respect Yuuya’s strength. And as he saw it, a duelist as powerful as Yuuya had no reason to slander someone without cause.

So, for now, he chose to trust Yuuya—after all, “Better safe than sorry!”

Plus, every time Weevil smiled, he looked like a scheming little villain, which only made Yuuya’s warning more convincing.

Watching Ryuzaki sling his backpack and walk off into the distance, Yuuya sighed quietly.

He could only hope that this warning would keep Ryuzaki from falling in with Weevil as he did in the original story.

Weevil had always been sly, treacherous, and shameless from his first appearance to the end. But Ryuzaki was different!

During the Kingdom and City arcs, Ryuzaki was always straightforward and accepted victory and defeat with honor. At the start of the City arc, after losing his duel to Jonouchi, he even kindly advised him not to duel Rishid recklessly.

But the longer he kept company with Weevil, the more Ryuzaki’s character was influenced by him.

“Isn’t the very purpose of a transmigrator’s existence to change the ‘original story’? If that’s the case, then I’ll do what I can to change the fates of certain people, and leave no regrets for my childhood!”